I am wondering if any here have insight on this: I understand ‘environmental determinism’ to be tied with social darwinism, and generally critiqued for supporting racist arguments (thinking of Guns, Germs and Steel, here). What are those critiques and are those critiques applicable to Sapolsky’s stance on determinism – in his new Determined book? And/or are they applicable to determinism in general? (Obviously, this is absolutely not my area of primary study.)
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Determinism is a philosophical stance about the existence of free will and the metaphysics of the universe.
Environmental determinism is an idea about how much material environment shapes human societies. It’s controversial but properly speaking it’s generally in opposition to racism, which claims that innate genetic characteristics shape human societies.
Anyway, the two aren’t really related at all, they are operating on very different scales.
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